Station Casinos has a big hit on its hands in the form of Graton Resort & Casino. So many customers turned out for opening day that the doors swung wide an hour early. Ninety minutes later, admittance was being rationed and at 20 past noon, the doors were closed altogether, so crowded was the casino. It didn’t hurt (or help?) that 20 tour buses showed up, loaded with patrons — and completely to Station’s surprise. There were the expected glitches: long waits at the players’ club booth, malfunctioning player cards, etc. But “[a]side from complaints of poor organization, lack of planning and the opening-day kinks, most customers said they were having a good time and some came from as far away as Sacramento and San Jose.” It’s so popular that it’s jamming the highways with would-be gamblers. California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Sloat called it “pretty much the worst case scenario we expected, with just the sheer volume of vehicles coming in.”
Not that we’re blaming Station. Open a casino only 48 miles from San Francisco and you’ll be lucky if supply can keep pace with demand — even with 3,000 slots. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and their Vegas partners 
have landed in clover. It’s not just a worst-case scenario for CHIPs but also for rival tribal casinos, who feared this outcome and now have to worry about their market share. Station expects demand will slacken a bit in coming weeks, as the novelty factor wears off. However, with not a little help from Gov. Jerry Brown (D), they’ve built the better mousetrap that has the world beating a path to its door. The price of success includes paying $12.5 million a year to Rohnert Park and $9 million a year to Sonoma County. Still, the taste of success — $533 million in prospective annual revenue — must be sweet for Station and the Graton Rancheria alike, it having taken them 13 years to bring this project to fruition. There’s an additional sweetener for Station: player points accrued at Graton can be redeemed at Station properties in Las Vegas, a first in the company’s tribal-management history.
Maryland miracle. Driven by slots at Maryland Live! and the contribution of newbie Rocky Gap Casino Resort, gaming revenues in Maryland exploded for a 68% increase last month. The Cordish Gaming property alone accounted for $52 million of the Free State’s $66 million haul. Hollywood Casino Perryville, which had looked like a goner, notched a 26% increase while traditionally low-grossing Ocean Downs managed a 21% increase.
In an ominous development, Caesars Entertainment is trying to undercut second lien bondholders’ claims to assets. The company, whose cash flow is being devoured by interest payments, is also trying to exchange $578 million worth of interest for stock in the company. If Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group keep swapping debt for equity, they may soon have little left of the company they once thought was worth $30 billion or so. One happy surprise for Caesars investors is that the sale of the company’s quixotic Macao golf course closed — at $18 million more than anticipated. That’s not a drop in the company’s ocean of debt but it’s nonetheless better than expected.
MTR Gaming had a poor third quarter, posting double-digit declines at its three flagship properties. Presque Isle Downs (-11%) is being undercut by Horseshoe Cleveland. But what’s to explain the falloff at Scioto Downs (-13%), which had been eating Hollywood Columbus‘ lunch?
